Tuesday, July 30, 2013

You may remember George Goss as the young man (30 years old) from NYC with whom I recently posted a little Q and A [Part 1 and Part 2].

Anyway, George is a photographer with a masters from the School of Visual Arts. I was so moved by this series of monk-farmers and animals that I asked if I could share them with my readers.

Here's the backstory:

"I came to Weston Priory for a week-long retreat after breaking up with my fiancée. We were in a relationship for over two years, and after Pre-Cana counseling (marriage preparation) with my pastor it became clear to me that the wedding in September was not going to happen.

The time spent with the Benedictine monks of Weston, Vermont was the perfect antidote. It granted my mind a rest from the constant questioning of if breaking off the engagement was really the right move. Along with two other young men on the retreat I was able to enter into the rhythm of the community: waking up early (around 4:00) and throughout the day helping with chores such as baling hay, cleaning out the sheep barn, clearing brush, and stacking firewood.

Before traveling up to the Weston Priory from New York City I needed to decide what camera to bring: my cumbersome digital Nikon D700 or my lightweight Nikon FM2 film camera. Both have their merits. Since I was not required to “get the shot,” I opted for the FM2. It gave me the freedom to photograph the moments without worrying about what the results were."

"I was also lucky to come at a time soon after a mother rabbit gave birth. It was dark inside and I was without a flash so I opened up the aperture all the way and set the shutter speed for a long exposure. I wasn’t sure if there was going to be enough light or if I would be able keep the camera steady enough. That’s pretty much been my experience with photography, I never quite know if I have the shot or not."

Monday, July 29, 2013

"They think faith is a big electric blanket, when of course it is the cross."--Flannery O'Connor"Why do you have to be so gloomy and morose all the time?" a reader recently asked. "There's so much MORE than that. You should read my friend's blog who is a REAL Christian and HAPPY" etc... This, in response to what I'd thought was a lovely piece about the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the affinity I feel for Barry, the homeless lush who staggers up and down Sunset Boulevard in my 'hood in L.A....Boy did that raise my hackles! Gloomy!

Here are some photos I took last week, for example, after arriving early at the Twin Towers jail in downtown L.A. to talk to the inmates with some other folks about our 'journey" with alcoholism/drug addiction.

It was a beautiful afternoon, as you can see. These were taken on a creepily deserted street that runs along the back of the phalanx of cheesy bail bond joints located across from the jail.

Don't you just love combining errands? And parking, too!Twin Towers is in the background. Note the slit windowsso the inmates are deprived of a view of the sky, people, or trees.

Pill call wasn't SO loud that we literally couldn't be heard, as is sometimes the case. The guys were great. As always I felt like they gave us way more than we gave them. We're not allowed to hold hands with the inmates, lest we try to pass contraband, but at the end they held hands with each other and we held hands with each other and we all prayed the Lord's Prayer.

As if that weren't enough happiness, here are some pix of the drive home afterward, headed east on Cesar Chavez (which turns into Sunset Blvd.)

BURRITO KING RULES!
"Give me a person who has suffered by their own willful stupiditybut found God in their processand I will listen."
--from one of my favorite pieces of fan e-mail ever

It was a massive Federalist plantation, lazy and handsome among two-century oaks and palm trees. You could imagine FDR had just visited to cut a ribbon last week. I had heard throughout my life the curious rumor of a leper "colony" down in south Louisiana. This news reached me when I was a boy in Clinton, Mississippi, and one did not know quite what to do with it. Colony evoked folks lost in an exotic fastness. Leper of course was as bad as it got, poor devils. I had a sense of these creatures execrated and driven onto some isle in a vicious swamp. In that, my young imagination was not far wrong. Louisiana was alarming and peculiar anyway. There were plenty of Catholics, many seemed touched by at least mild cases of voodoo, and adults went public with their gaudiest dreams.Read the rest here.

MARIA CALLAS

RING LARDNER

BETTY MacDONALD

LOUISE NEVELSON

"I feel that what people call by the word ‘scavenger’ is really a resurrection."

SVIATOSLAV RICHTER

"During one period of chronic depression, it was impossible for me to live without a plastic lobster that I took with me everywhere."

FYODOR DOSTOEVSKY

"The world will be saved by beauty."

THE BROTHERS QUAY

"It's that little glint, that privileged look into a keyhole, and realizing suddenly that there's this little universe that's probably suffering and barely breathing, but it's pulsating, vibrating, with its own life. That in itself is a metaphor of the universe."

THE KING: "MAN, I REALLY LIKE VEGAS."

Jesus statue found in Elvis's bedroom at Graceland. Photo by H. King.

HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN

"Every man's life is a fairy tale written by God's fingers."

ST. THÉRÈSE OF LISIEUX

"If you are willing to bear serenely the trial of being displeasing to yourself, then you will be for Jesus a pleasant place of shelter."

BILL MONROE

"Bluegrass has brought more people together and made more friends than any music in the world."

BILL W.

"We'll make it not because we're a better people--but because we're a weaker people."

BILL HICKS

"By the way, if anyone here is in marketing or advertising...kill yourself. Thank you."

MORE FASCINATING PLACES

MY NEW BOOK! HOLY DESPERATION

PRAYING AS IF YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT

As St. Thérèse of Lisieux said, "All prayer arises from incompetence. Otherwise there is no need for it." Self-obsessed, easily distracted, full of petty judgments and irrational fears, I should know. Thoughts on the development of my own "inner life."

MY OTHER BOOKS

PARCHED

SIN, REDEMPTION, AND REHAB

REDEEMED

STUMBLING TOWARD GOD

SHIRT OF FLAME

ROAMING K'TOWN, L.A. WITH THÉRÈSE OF LISIEUX

POOR BABY

A CHILD OF THE 60'S LOOKS BACK ON ABORTION

HOLY DAYS AND GOSPEL REFLECTIONS

COLLECTED WRITINGS FROM MAGNIFICAT

STUMBLE: VICE, VIRTUE, AND THE SPACE BETWEEN

ESSAYS ON CRISIS, SALVATION, AND THE DAILY TRAGICOMEDY OF THE CROSS

STRIPPED: CANCER, CULTURE AND THE CLOUD OF UNKNOWING

MY GOING-AGAINST-MEDICAL-ADVICE "CANCER MEMOIR"

STRIPPED BOOK TRAILER: NATTERINGS FROM JOSHUA TREE...

LOADED: MONEY AND THE SPIRITUALITY OF ENOUGH

HOW I WENT FROM TRYING TO GET BY ON 27 CENTS A DAY TO A FULL, RICH LIFE OF SERVICE TO MY FELLOW SICK PEOPLE!